Using a Flash Object ActiveX control in Authorware

In order to follow this tutorial, you need to have the Flash ActiveX control properly installed in the computer. It can be downloaded from the Flash Web Player Download Center. If you're going to create a folder for the Authorware piece, create a sub-folder for the Flash movies also. Here are the steps:

1	Create a folder called "Main" in your hard drive.
2	Create another folder called "Movies" inside the "Main" folder.
3	Copy the Flash files into the "Movies" folder.
4	Open Authorware and choose Insert>Control ActiveX.
5	Select ShockwaveFlash Object in the Select ActiveX Control dialogue box.
6	Choose the properties tab in the ActiveX Control Properties dialogue box, click on the Movie line, and typeMovies//mymovie.swfin the top blank field (replacemymoviewith the actual name of the Flash file). Press OK to close the dialog box. The illustration below shows how the the ActiveX Control Properties should look.

7	Name the ActiveX control icon "Flash".
8	Drag a calculation icon to the flowline and copy and paste the CallSprite function. The syntax should look like this: CallSprite(@"Flash",#Play).
9	Save the Authorware piece in the Main folder and run it. If you want to resize the area where the movie is playing, pause your piece and click on the dotted square. Drag the control points to resize the display area.

Question

If I want to distribute the package on a CD-ROM, how do I get it to use a relative path?

Answer

Double click on the Flash Asset Xtra sprite, and then click again on the options tag. In the link file field you will see something like c:\movies\mymovie.swf. Change that to a relative path. Say like .\movies\mymovie.swf. So when you package your piece, create a folder called "movies", at the same level as your packaged file, and place mymovie.swf in that folder.

Additional information

For more information about playing Flash inside Authorware, please refer to the TechNotes and articles listed below:

Using Macromedia Flash Asset Xtra (Part I) (TechNote 15061)

Using Macromedia Flash Asset Xtra (Part II) (TechNote 15062)

Capturing an event from a Flash movie in Authorware (TechNote 14152)

Using the Flash Asset Xtra with Authorware Web Player (TechNote 13422)

Flash movies ignore actions when using the #frame property (TechNote 14373)

Using Flash movies in Authorware 5

Flash Asset Xtra Show Me

Anatomy of the ActiveX Show Me